Repolishing questions

[baz]

i m not sure but if the parts have much oxidation , using a soft wheel like a loose cotton wheel on a drill will probably not generate enough friction to remove the oxidation , maybe a slightly harder buff would help to remove oxidation and fine scratches then finish off with a loose cotton wheel

[vector18]

I agree. I'm going with the brown with a spiral sewn and than a loose with the white.
One other question now, do you recommend an angle grinder over an orbit sander or is either one fine. Keep in mind I will not be taking the bike completely apart but I will be removing things here and there to make the job easier.

[erckgillis]

Speed over power, Don't use a sander...It'll be flat and not follow contours correctly. You'll get problems. high & low areas...

Let the high speed and the wheel do the work...it's the rouge that does the polishing. When it kinda "dries" and turns Black then your just starting to do real work. The more frequently you wipe, rinse and clean off the dark used rouge, the longer it'll take but the smoother the shine.

Also for large parts I try to go in consistant directions with a single color rouge then switch directions between colors. Also feel free to use small wheels and tools like a dremel moto-tool and small cotton wheels to get corners and nooks/crannies.

E

[vector18]

OK, today I attacked the bike with my grinding machine spinning at 11,000 rpms
and I hit the front wheel with brown first. I was careful to go one direction and
not touch the metal for too long with the wheel. After I did the entire lip, I wiped it clean with rubbing alcohol and dried it. Than I put a soft wheel and
put some white on it. I was getting alot of black where I was touching with
the wheel but after a few seconds of keeping on it, the black seemed to go
away slightly and the metal started to shine. After doing the whole lip on one
side with the white, I wiped it down again with the alcohol and stepped back
and compared it to the other side. Keep in mine I'm doing this in a public
garage and the lighting is not that great and it's 9 at night. To be honest,
I'm not too sure if I did anything at all? The rim wasn't really shining much more than anything else on the bike. I'm going to take it out in the sun tomorrow
and check it out. Any suggestions or tips guys? Does anything I did sound
wrong?

[baz]

Originally Posted by vector18

I agree. I'm going with the brown with a spiral sewn and than a loose with the white.
One other question now, do you recommend an angle grinder over an orbit sander or is either one fine. Keep in mind I will not be taking the bike completely apart but I will be removing things here and there to make the job easier.

i m not sure about your question (an angle grinder over an orbitsander)
those are 2 different animals used for different things . i don t know if you are trying to run a spiral sewn buff with an orbital sander or what
also 11000 rpm i don t know the size of wheel you are using but i think it s way too much.
here is the way i would do it , some will say i am wrong but it works for me for the last 15 years
get an electric variable speed polisher (similar to a dewalt 9 inch polisher)
put a 6 or 8 inch sewn buff on it (if your buffs are too narrow stack 2 of them to get at least 1 inch thick)
get a bar of compound . i use green bar ( i know its for stainless )
make sure parts are cean and dry
set the polisher to 1500 rpm and start polishing with moderate pressure
(make sure you have a good grip of the polisher because it has enough torque
to twist your wrist or nose if it bites on something)
as you go on adjust speed and pressure as needed.
now if you don t get results with this, either you are not doig it right or your parts are already at their maximum shine
fyi : if you are not sure about my way of doing go on my website and have a look

[erckgillis]

Agreed...

There are to many alloys to have one technique work on all, You hard nothing that cannot be undone with elbow grease. Experiment, the books and text are "guidelines".

I do not like to use alot of pressure or speed ...especially in one spot.

However some hard and dull alloys REQUIRE just that. It's out of my comfort zone, so I start slow and then work up. If you can mirror polis a dime sized area then you can do the WHOLE thing.

You're on the right track. Oh, also my polishers never go above 10k revs and I usually start at 1500-2500 and go from there as well...

Be agressive and polish the heck out of that stuff man!

E

[vector18]

Well, yesterday I got the whole bike done. I took off everything I can to get
off so I had access to most of the parts. I just basically used the soft wheel
with the white compound for now. All in all including taking off the tank, pipes, seat, and other little parts, the polishing and reassemlby of the bike took
me about 4 hours. I think it came out pretty good and for now I'm happy.
After polishing the bike, I washed it with a hose and it was amazing how the
water was beading on the metal. Anyway, here's a few pics of my work. What ya think?

[vector18]

[vector18]

[Rasper]

Sure looks good from here.

Richard